White And Black
by Legend Maker
Summary: What is the greatest evil of the human animal? What is our blackest heart of darkness? As the Titans will find out, sometimes the darkest color of evil...comes from just that, a color...Not for the faint of heart.
1. Racial Purity

Chapter 17 (Part 1): Racial Purity

Writer's Note: For anyone who is coming into this fanfic having never read any of my work, some explanation is needed.

This story was originally going to be a story arc within my larger Titans fanfic, Wings of the Eagles. But the fic was rated overall PG-13, and due to certain language in this story, Fanfiction.net said it had to be rated R or they would take it down. So, if you've never read any of my work, it is not recommended that you read this as I have introduced many elements previously and you won't have any idea what I'm talking about. To my fans, this story arc takes place between the Evilution and I'll Be Your Hero arcs. So remember, this is not a separate story, but one that takes place within a larger story, similar to another TT fanfic of mine, Time and Time Again. It's why the chapters are such high numbers, as that was where the story was originally going to appear in Wings.

And a final warning. This is not the usual fanfic material. In fact, most of you probably have never even thought of a fanfic in this vein, much less read one. But I get ideas from weird places sometimes, as well as from the great deal of reading I do, and I feel that I have to write this. So be warned. This is NOT a nice story. And I don't mean in a blood and guts way. You'll see why when you read.

And if anyone who reads this says I must be exaggerating on how the villains speak and act, I wish I was. But I did some research. This stuff actually happens. Sadly. Well, might as well start. Let's hope you don't regret it.

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_"Le Coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point."_

("The heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows nothing.")

-Blaise Pascal, _Pensees_

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How did this all begin?

Some questions in this vein will never be answered. Others have no answer.

But we can answer where some things began.

His name was Curtis Green. He was in his early twenties. He had dark brown hair that was just on the verge of being shoulder length, which indicated he, probably, was in need of a haircut. He was dressed in a purple and yellow T-Shirt and dark blue slacks, with sneakers. He had just come from a bar, and while he had had a few he was not drunk, and now he was just walking down the street, enjoying the cool night, while he headed for the subway that would take him home.

But Curtis would never reach home. You see, Curtis was black. Or if you must use the PC term, African-American. Whether or not you assumed he was white before you were told is moot: that is what is needed in the written word. It was what he was. His skin possessed a high concentration of melanin, which made it darker then some people on this planet.

Curtis, as mentioned, had had a few, and hence wasn't really that highly alert. And even if he had been, he probably wouldn't have noticed the car gliding up behind him.

He heard the door opening though. The sudden noise caught his attention, and he started to turn.

All he saw were two men, large ones, with broad chests and well muscled bodies. One was blonde, the other had red hair. They were dressed identically though: in blue jeans and camouflage green shirts that had the image of a burning cross over their heart. Remember you I mentioned their hair colour? Well, technically you couldn't see it. You see, they were both wearing hoods.

Curtis didn't get to make a sound: he had just begun to open his mouth when the one on the right slammed him on the side of his head with a crowbar. Pain exploded through Curtis's being as his vision split and blurred. He felt himself fall, felt large hands picking him up and dragging him somewhere, felt his sense of personal space change as he was shoved into the back of a car. He moaned, and then another large hand slammed into his face in a vicious punch, knocking him even goofier.

Curtis had no sense of time: all he could feel was heat and motion. But slowly, he began to come around. But before he could fully, the car finally stopped, and he was dragged out. His still dull eyes took in trees, lots of them: apparently he was in the middle of a forest. He saw a wooden…something overhead as he was dragged into a compound, saw crude wood buildings pass him by.

And then there were others. Lots of others, at least 50 or more, all wearing the same outfit and all wearing hoods. By now Curtis's senses were started to return, and he mewled (he wished he could make a more dignified sound, but his brain was still foggy and his lips were swollen) and tried to thrash free, but the four who had him had grips of steel.

Curtis tried anyway.

"Fucking coon." One of the men around him said, and delivered a savage kick to Curtis's gut, knocking the wind out of him as new pain washed through his body. It nearly kept him from seeing the blazing campfire they dragged him past, or the post that he was being dragged to.

No, not a post.

A cross.

"No…no…!" Curtis yelled, and his semi-outburst was rewarded by another vicious punch to the face. He groaned as blood dribbled between his lips. Some of the assembled men laughed at this.

Curtis put up no more resistance as thin cords were wrapped around his arms and legs and he was tied to the cross. With no one to sucker-punch him, Curtis's mind finally cleared. His eyes filled with terror as he finally realized what was happening.

"No…NO!" he yelled. This was impossible. This wasn't the Deep South, where pockets of this kind of behavior were so ingrained it was practically in the water and air. The time of men waltzing around in white hoods carrying hanging ropes and getting away with what was done with them was fifty years gone by. This was Jump City, in the new millennium. This couldn't be HAPPENING.

Except it was. It existed, as the assemblage parted to let another man through. He was shorter and stockier then the muscle-pumped men around him, a lot of which was from prison weight lifting. But it was clear he was the leader.

He stared up at Curtis, and though his face was covered, Curtis could still feel a disdain and rage so intense it burned him. But what was even worse was that tinting that vile was a terrible sense of RIGHTEOUSNESS.

The man walked behind Curtis, and Curtis gasped as the shirt was ripped from his back. The leader threw the torn shirt into the fire as he walked back in front of Curtis.

"My brothers!" he bellowed, the somewhat small frame hiding a booming voice. "It has begun! Today we finally claim a new stronghold for the apocalypse to come! There will be those who will deny us, and defy us, but they do no matter! We have been invited here! And we will show our appreciation by doing what our gracious and powerful host could not do when he had the opportunity!"

Curtis had no idea what this guy was babbling about, but then another large man approached him.

He was holding a bullwhip.

Curtis tried to be brave, but it was too hard.

"NOOOO! NO PLEASE!"

"The time is coming! And we shall stand strong! And we will purify this diseased and tainted city as thanks for our gracious invitation! We will help him stare Satan in the eye! Let me hear your support!"

"BLOOD! BLOOD, BLOOD, BLOOD!" the men yelled.

"YES!"

"KILL KILL KILL! DEATH DEATH **_DEATH!_**"

"We will strike back! We will purify this city and this land. LET ME HEAR YOU GIVE ME A HALLELUIAH!"

"HALLELUIAH!"

"For the glory of God and the Aryan nation!" the leader bellowed, and motioned to Curtis.

The man cocked back his arm.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Curtis screamed.

The whip cracked, and Curtis felt the worst pain of his life.

Then it cracked again. NOW he had felt the worst pain of his life.

And again…and again…and let us not dwell on this terrible sight. Let us move away from these bloodthirsty men, if we can call them men, and go someplace else.

You probably have some questions on how this came to be. Possibly some of you are claiming this could never happen.

For answers, let us pass through the wall of a building nearby. This building is a crude office, filled with a desk, some filing cabinets, a chair, and the usual things we will see in an office.

What is not normal are the many pamphlets, posters, and books piled around the room. They all bear a certain theme.

SCIENTISTS SAY NIGGERS STILL IN APE STAGE.

CORRUPTION OF BLOOD LINKED TO MULTIPLYING GOOK AREAS IN MAJOR CITIES.

RAGHEADS' FALSE RELIGIOUS BOOKS FILLED WITH MESSAGES TO KILL GOD'S PEOPLE.

And on, and on. All acting like they are nothing more then normal research articles…except for the common theme you have probably guessed.

Propaganda. These men believed they were at war, and propaganda in war can be one of, if not the greatest weapon in an arsenal.

But there is one certain piece of propaganda that we must see, as we look in at it…

And at the same time, we must look back in time…

************************

The time: several months ago, a few months after the Final Night.

The place: a battle.

The reason: The Puppet King. Having returned, the Puppet King has masterminded a plan that has seen fruition. Taking the essences of many people, the Puppet King had managed to fuel a giant likeness of himself, which is now rampaging through Jump City.

And the Titans are on the attack. Their city is still being rebuilt: they'll be damned if they let it be torn down all over again.

"Fools! You cannot beat my giant! Surrender, and I will destroy you rather painlessly!" The Puppet King laughs from his place on the golem's head. But his laugh hides, not all successfully, a growing desperation. The Titans have been hacking and slashing away at his giant with everything they had, doing far more damage then he had anticipated. If this kept up, they might somehow…

"ARGH!" The Puppet King screamed as missiles exploded around him, courtesy of Cyborg. Angered, the Puppet King pulls up his arm, and his giant mimics him totally.

Victor Stone tries to run back, but he can't quite make it, as the giant hand smashes into him and throws him off the edge of the eight-story building he was standing on.

He falls, spinning, his systems scrambled by the impact and unable to launch his grappling hook to catch himself.

But that is why there are teams. If one person fails, another steps in, as Noel Collins leaps past the Puppet King's monolith, skipping across the roof, and throws a Shimmer strand down after Cyborg.

And here is where it all starts, again. For you see, Cyborg is falling in a tumbling, flipping whirl, the Shimmer strand following him. Savior needs to grab Cyborg: he is too close to the ground to pick and choose where.

And hence, as Cyborg faces upright, only a second or two before hitting the ground, the Shimmer reaches him and loops around the closest part to it where it can get the proper leverage to stop Cyborg's fall.

His neck.

Now, this may LOOK very bad on the surface, until you consider three things.

A) Cyborg's neck was far tougher then the average man's. Still, it was a considerable amount of whiplash and pressure. But those were negated because…

B) The Shimmer was no ordinary rope. It had special qualities, which Noel took full advantage off. Had Noel just had a normal rope, he would have never done this. But the Shimmer is much more, as it absorbs virtually all the whiplash, leaving Cyborg with just a slight sense of stopping, much like how you would feel if you fell out of bed. And finally…

C) The Shimmer was only around Cyborg's neck for a second. As soon as he stopped, smaller strands broke off the main one and wrapped around and under Cyborg's arms, as Noel exerted his power to pull his teammate up.

And while this was happening, behind Noel his teammates combined their powers for one titanic final strike. Savior could hear the bellowing and the terrible racket as the Puppet King's wanna-be kaiju finally fell apart. A wave of dust washed over Savior as he finished pulling Cyborg back up on the roof.

"Thanks for the save man! But come on, could you have grabbed me someplace better?" Cyborg mock-complained, lightly punching Savior on the arm.

"Before you became street pizza? Probably not." Savior replied, and then he and Cyborg headed across the roof and leapt down to aid their fellow Titans in capturing the Puppet King and returning the stolen essences of people that he had used to power his giant. And that was that: The Titans went home and rested until the next problem.

But you see, while this was happening, a few intrepid reporters and cameramen were acting foolish by following the fight, despite the great risk of being crushed by something. One of them happened to on the side of the building that Cyborg had fallen off of, and he had reacted quickly by snapping a huge amount of shots.

In the end, none of the series were used, and the photographer quickly forgot about his pictures.

But they did not disappear. Somehow, they found their way into other hands. And other hands from there. And others.

As a butterfly flaps its wings…

************************

It is several months later, and we are looking at the picture.

In reality, this was taken about 1/3 of a second after Savior had grabbed Cyborg. Cyborg has just been caught, and has not yet been able to reach his arms up. At the time, Savior's face was locked in concentration in his deed of helping Cyborg.

But that is not the story the picture tells. The picture captures Cyborg's abrupt jerk, and Noel's face. But the angle and the shadows have changed the features into different ones, ones that, if looked at in a certain mindset…could almost be interpreted as…angry joy.

And in one final nasty quirk of fate, the outfit Noel was wearing that day was his all white one. Usually he mixes in some blues and purples, but sometimes he just wears white. This was one of those days.

Reality had vanished. What the picture showed now was Savior, white in outfit, hair, and skin tone (well, his skin tone was more accurately a pinkish tint, but you know what I mean), hanging a black man.

This photo is a centerpiece of a large piece of propaganda, between twin sets of words. On top: THE ONLY GOOD NIGGER IS A DEAD NIGGER.

Below it: TODAY'S METAHUMAN YOUTH THINK SO TOO.

You heard the man speaking of an invitation?

To these men, this misinterpreted picture is all they need.

I wish we could just leave, but we cannot. Let us pass out of this building again, where the group is still at it, chanting and stomping, sounding more like wild animals then men, above the screams of Curtis Green as they lay his flesh open to the bone, over and over.

Until the leader motions them to stop. The chants for blood and death cease as well, as the man with the bullwhip lays it down and heads for the campfire.

Curtis is in utter agony, but he still sees what this man pulls from the campfire. He screams anew.

"BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD!" the leader bellows.

**_"BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD! DEATH DEATH DEATH! KILL KILL KILL!"_**

"HALLELUIAH!"

**_"HALLELUIAH!"_**

Curtis's scream split through the whole forest as these men did what they did. I will not tell you. But I will tell you that it finally caused him to pass out.

He never awoke again.

These men were called the ASP. The Anglo-Saxan Patrol. They have come to Jump City because they believe, through this picture, that one of their fellows has invited them.

Never mind the reality. Never mind the truth. Never mind that Noel Collins wasn't even THERE.

They had come to make Jump City their own. And they had some grand plans.

To Be Continued


	2. Race War

Chapter 18 (Part 2): Race War

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_"Men are more easily governed by their vices then their virtues."_

Napoleon Bonaparte

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It was the morning after that atrocity in the woods on the outskirts of Jump City.

Right on time, the Teen Titans' main computer powered up and began dispensing paper. Tim Drake, his mask off but besides that in full costume, walked up to it and began looking at the paper.

What was being printed was a complete police report of all the crimes that had happened, in some form or another, during last night. After Jack nearly succeeded in framing Noel for his murders, Robin had set this up so he could check all the crimes he and his team had missed. And there was a fair amount. The Teen Titans usually handled all the "glory" cases: metahumans and costumed crooks that had something that would be very dangerous to normal police. The Jump City police force handled the rest. And they were a good set of officers (no small part in Robin rooting out the corruption himself), who dealt out law and justice without fail. But they were only human, and most of the Titans were not, so…

But it was usually humdrum stuff. DWI's. Complaints about too much noise. A domestic dispute or two. A bar brawl. Nothing the officers couldn't handle. A breaking and entering, possible date rape…

And then it leapt out at him.

The body of a young black male had been discovered in a trash dumpster on the city's west side. Death had been attributed to loss of blood: his throat had been cut. What leapt out at Robin was the other stuff. He read all of it, and then over again, his face growing grim. He did not like the thoughts this event was arising.

Starfire walked in, cheery and eager to share it, but she saw Robin see her and make a gesture that meant he needed to not be disturbed. Starfire changed direction and wandered into the kitchen, where and Terra ganged up to pester Raven.

Robin picked up the phone and dialed a special number. It connected him directly to the chief of police on the west side of Jump City. He said hello and a special code so that the chief would know it was him, and then he started asking for any info that had been uncovered since the report.

It wasn't as bad as he thought. It was worse.

"WHAT?" he said at what the chief told him. "HOW?" But Robin knew how. He knew all too well.

"You're certain. CERTAIN? Dammit, are you sure you can't arrest them for SOMETHING? Argh! Sorry chief, this is VERY frustrating." Robin said. "Anything else? Uh huh….really? Dammit. Well, don't worry, I'm going to look into this myself. I will not allow this kind of shit in my city. Er, our city. Sorry chief. All right. Yes, I will. Bye." Robin said, hanging up. He cursed silently under his breath. Of all the things he had theorized that could happen to his beleaguered city, this one was near the very back of the list. Yet the writing was on the wall, so it seemed…

"Nahhhh nahhh nah nah nah, Britannia rules the waves!" Rob sang as he walked in, fresh from a shower. He did a goofy dance. "I don't know the words to this dinky song! All that I know is that Britannia rules the…!"

"Rob." Robin said quietly. Rob spun, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"Tim! How are we this…"

"Not now Rob. We have a problem. Gather the others, we're having a meeting. NOW." Robin said, the last word firm but not harsh. He turned and headed towards the kitchen to tell the women in there.

Letting his goofy exuberance slide, Rob wondered why Tim was so grim. Heh, that rhymed!

Robert Candide would find out soon enough.

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"Ok, what's the sitch Robin?" Terra asked. All the Titans, minus Noel of course, were sitting around the meeting table.

"It's not good guys…" Robin said.

"What is it? Slade? The Lord? Trigon?" Beast Boy asked.

"No…" Robin said, and his gaze slid to Cyborg.

"What?" he said.

"Victor…this may get personal."

"For us?"

"No. For you."

"What? Why?"

Robin took a deep breath.

"The police found the body of a young black man named Curtis Green. Murdered. He had his throat slit. But that's not what bothering me. You see, the wounds on his body indicate that he was…whipped."

"What?" Gar Logan said.

"Not just that. It looked like before his death he was…branded."

"WHAT?" Cyborg, Beast Boy, Terra, and Raven all said, nearly at the same time.

"Branded? You mean cow, red hot iron brand?" Rob said.

"Yes."

"You don't think…" Cyborg said.

"I didn't at first. This clearly has racial undertones. But I was pondering that that might be a cover. Misdirection. But when I called the Chief, I found out it wasn't…apparently...well…there's no point in sugarcoating this. A hate group has set up camp outside Jump City."

"WHAT?" All the Titans except Starfire, who was mostly looking confused, said.

"Wait, are you saying the Klan's come to town?" Gar said.

"Not the Klan. This is a unit called the ASP. Stands for Anglo-Saxan Patrol. They're a white supremacy group, paramilitary style. More like the Neo-Nazis then the Klan. But they believe the same basic things."

Silence.

"What the HELL is a group like THAT doing HERE?" Gar finally said. Cyborg had sat back down, his eyes cold.

"THAT, I don't know. But here's what I do know. They've been in the woods for about two weeks…"

"Two WEEKS? Why didn't we see anything?"

"Possibly because we were dealing with Eyesore." Raven said dryly. "And Aberration. And Mad Mod. And those guys with the stolen disintegrator guns. Did we fight Killer Moth again? No wait, that was last month."

"Your point being?" Beast Boy said.

"We've been occupied. Distracted. Easy enough for them to build a camp out in the woods." Raven said.

"Not just any camp. The police went in there to look for evidence. They've already got a small village out there. Barracks, storage, even a church. When the cops showed up, they were actually running military maneuvers."

"You're kidding." Terra said.

"Wish so. These folks are hardcore. You would think that would be enough to make some arrests. Unfortunately, no."

"WHAT? But they're…!"

"I know. But having beliefs can't get you arrested in this country. You need something more concrete. But the damn thing is, the cops couldn't find anything. The brand mark was in the shape of a cross, but they didn't find a branding iron with that shape, or any branding iron at all. Ditto the knife that cut this poor kid's throat. Or a whip. Or nothing that could link them to the death rather then the fact they're a hate group. They own the land legally. All the weapons that had stashed there were registered and legal. They didn't even have any hate literature. Guy who runs the place, name's Dunagan, he put on this line saying that they wouldn't kill black people, oh no." Robin said, as he went into his impression of the chief's impression of the officer's impression who had seen the original. Er, I don't think anything was lost in translation. "We don't advocate any laws that would hurt the Non-Anglo-Saxan races. They just want separation. Let people work and play 'among their own'. He said this with a straight face, despite the fact that his men were calling him 'Grand Dragon Dunagan.' When questioned about this, he said it was an old tradition started about a million years and he'd been trying for years to get them to call him 'President Dunagan.'"

"Is this for real?" Beast Boy said.

"Unfortunately. According to the letter of the law, ASP is nothing more then a legitimate, fully registered, lobbying organization designed to promote political change. Though I'm pretty damn sure we know what kind of change that is."

"So what do we do? Go out and trash the entire camp? Surely we can do that!" Terra said.

"We can't unless we find evidence that they actually committed the crime." Raven said, even her dry tone begin to show traces of distaste.

"WHAT? THEY'RE A HATE GROUP! Who ELSE could it be?" Terra said.

"Right. We KNOW that. But legally we have squat. All the men there alibied each other, and we have no murder weapons or witnesses. If we go there and beat them up, they'd probably press assault charges." Robin said grimly. He hated this more then any of them, but he had to swallow this bitter pill. As flawed and as easy to manipulate as the laws of men were, Batman had beaten respect of them into Tim. If they didn't follow the laws that the criminals didn't, how much better were they?

"It would be just like them to hide behind legal nonsense." Cyborg said quietly.

"Look guys, don't despair. Like Beast Boy said, this isn't the Deep South. Coming here is pretty bold. They must have a reason. We have to be careful and observant, and find that out. And find a reason. But we will. I promise. And when we do…"

The phone rang. But not just any phone: it had the specific tone that the special line Robin had to the chief of police had. He excused him to answer it.

With Robin gone, all attention turned to Cyborg, who was sitting with his hands crossed in front of his face, leaving only his eyes exposed. They had a dark, thoughtful look.

"Vic…I mean…I…" Gar said, beginning to raise a hand, then putting it down, then raising it again, not sure what to say.

"It's ok guys. I will do my best to handle this with grace and dignity." Cyborg said quietly.

And he meant it, sort of. The truth was, Victor had no idea how to react. He had been fairly insulated from racism his entire life, both before and after the procedure that made him a cyborg. Oh yes, his father, Silas, had told him some stories, but lacking any personal experience, the whole concept of hate that seemed to be invading his city seemed distant and uncongenial.

But he knew enough. This murder wasn't just an undeserved death. This was a message. And Victor Stone was pretty sure he was part of the message. Hell, he was probably the center of it.

And that was all he got to think, as Robin walked back in. His expression was almost comical, an intense expression of absolutely disbelief mixed with rage and disgust.

"Guys…" he managed to say. "You are not going to BELIEVE what is going on."

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The streets of Jump City. Most stir to life this morning with the certainty that they will see nothing special, the same as the day before, and the day before that.

But on several streets, surreal had come to visit.

Its first indication was a distant sound of tinny, blaring music. As it gets closer, we can hear that it is a martial tone, a John Phillip Sousa flag waving special. It gets people's attention, as might the fact that there are no cars driving on these roads. That is because they have been roped off.

And then they appear, a wave of green camouflage outfits with burning crosses on their chests. Dozens, maybe hundreds of them, nine across, rows deep, all marching in lockstep. Some hold placards that proclaim their name, the ASP, and their reason for being here: to save the true people of this city. The rear guard carries with them a huge cross. This is not the same cross that Curtis Green was tortured on: that had been carefully disassembled and fed into the flames of the fire. Indeed, the campfire was the only evidence that the police had found that could connect this group of Curtis Green, and it was far too vague. A campfire? They were out in the woods, they had no electricity or running water, of course they had one.

And they march. People see them, with mixed reactions. But no one tries to stop them despite the terrible outrage that many feel. All of the men are large and muscular, and more then a few are carrying weapons: pipes, crowbars, two by fours.

But those who call the police find, to their disgust, that this is all legal, a march organized through City Hall. Freedom of speech in all its glory.

And so the ASP marches, as they turn around the corner that will take them down another road and eventually back to their camp.

And they stop. The music halts. And the group stares at the Titans who stand in the street.

Robin is at the front, his arms crossed and an indignant, irritated look on his face. The others are spread out behind him, and while no one has armed weapons or charged abilities yet, you can tell the Titans are on a hair trigger alert. With some, it was more like a desire. Give us an excuse.

Quiet for a moment.

"Which one of you is Grand Dragon Dunagan?" Robin asked.

The crowd parts, and a man steps to the forefront. Robin was, from the little he had heard, expecting a physical incarnation of evil.

Instead, he saw a short man, with a beltline that was decent but still showing some middle age spread. He was balding, the last remnants of his red hair clinging to either side of his bald head. He wore glasses and had a generally healthy, ruddy appearance. In short, he looked like any man might be in his early fifties…perfectly…ordinary.

"I am Dunagan." He said, and then he actually offered Robin his hand. Robin glared at it as if he hoped it would burst into flame. It didn't, but Dunagan got the message, lowering his hand.

"We don't want any trouble." He replied.

"Funny, that's not the message I'm getting."

"We have a permit to march. I have it on my person if you wish to see for yourself." Dunagan said, pulling a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket. Robin looked in over, his eyes narrowing. He had better take a look at City Hall when he had some free time. This stunk to him of some cash exchanging hands.

Robin handed it back.

"I don't know why you came here, but you're not welcome. I think it would be best for all parties if you left and didn't come back." Robin said.

"Brother Robin, we are not your enemy!"

"I see how your men back there are looking past me. I don't need three guesses to tell who they're looking at." Robin said. Cyborg was near the front, his arms crossed. He was handling this remarkably well.

"Brother Robin, do not be deceived! You believe that…THING to be your ally, your friend? He is a tool of Satan! He will stab you all in the back and leave you to burn."

"Go back to your camp and GET OUT." Robin hissed.

Dunagan did not back down, though as he realized that Robin wasn't going to side with him for any reason, his supposed camaraderie vanished.

"So, you too are a traitor to God and your Aryan race! I should have known! You taint yourself worse then most! Worse then one of them, you lie down with a creature not even of your own SPECIES!"

It took everything Robin had not to crack Dunagan's skull open right then and there. All his teammates shared the same proclivity. And the odds were in their favor: large men with bludgeons meant nothing to them. They could mop the floor with this entire group in ten minutes.

But they didn't. Because Robin had made them swear they wouldn't if he didn't give the signal. And Robin had sworn to himself he would not be the aggressor. That was THEIR way.

But it was a lot harder when you had the leader of a hate group call your girlfriend what he just had.

"We will not be intimated, by your abilities or your betrayal! We were invited to this city by one of your own! He offered us a place here, and we will take it, and when the apocalypse comes, we WILL stand tall, while you all perish in the flames. Now stand aside!"

For a moment, the two stared down each other.

Then Robin turned away, much to the shock of his group. He signaled for them to go, and grudgingly, they listened.

A look of great satisfaction filled Dunagan's face, and with a face of his hand, he and his group marched on.

************************

"ROBIN! WHAT THE HELL! YOU BACKED DOWN TO THOSE RACIST FU-" Beast Boy yelled on a nearby rooftop.

"Calm down Beast Boy." Robin ordered. "I didn't back down. What he said…he said one of our own invited him here."

"He MUST have been lying." Gauntlet said.

"No, I saw his eyes. He believed it." Robin said. His eyes looked over the group.

"Gauntlet, Beast Boy, Terra, follow them. They so much as sneeze at anyone, you have my permission to thrash as many as you see fit. Starfire, Raven, come back to the Tower with me, we need to do some research, know our enemy better, find a crack in the legalities they're hiding behind. Cyborg…well, for obvious reasons, what do you want to do?"

"I'll come back with you Fearless." Cyborg said.

"Ok. Let's go Titans. These kind of things have a nasty habit of only ending after something bad has happened. Let's try and make Curtis Green's death that bad thing, ok?"

"Right." They all replied.

"Good. Titans, go." He said, and the group split up and headed off.

************************

Some time later, Robin was looking over some printouts and waiting back from a call to Batman when Starfire approached.

"Tim…" she said, sitting down. "I, er…"

Tim had been dreading this moment. Trying to explain racism and hate crimes to someone like Kory was like removing wisdom teeth: a necessary yet incredibly unpleasant experience.

"Kory…it's very hard to explain why these men think and act the way they do…"

"Oh no Robin, I understand that." Kory said. THAT surprised Robin. "My own species has some history of…persecuting other races simply because they are. And I have read your history. I can understand this ASP, and why they hate black people, and Asian people, and myself." Kory said.

"…..Oh." Robin said. "Then why…"

"Well, what I do not understand is…how can these men do these things so blatantly? I believed from what I read that such behavior had become…er…unfashionable?" Kory said, hunting for the right word.

"That's fairly accurate." Robin replied.

"Then why can they get permits to march in the name of such terrible things? Why can we not arrest them for a crime they clearly committed, despite a lack of hard evidence? Why, when it could ensure that this behavior could be stopped, does this city and its leaders allow it to continue, almost with its blessing?"

"Because that's the way the human race is." Raven said, suddenly walking in. "We condone such thinking, yet we allow it for the sake of freedom. Typical humanity. Above all else, we're a walking paradox."

"But…still…" Starfire said. Raven sighed.

"Kory, the problem with systems is that the people who make them tend to make them, sink them in, and leave them. But no sooner does this happen then the smart villains out there, like this Dunagan, start to learn it. The reason a lot of people get away with stuff like this is because they know the system that defies it far better then the rest of us, know where the holes are, the vague parts, the uncharted territory. And they take advantage of that. Free speech for all, right? Well, that means them too. As well as their camps and all that. That's pretty much why there can be ASP's today. That, and there seems to be a taint of stupidity running through the whole mess that is whatever humans design. There always is. You know, I wonder why they call it common sense. It doesn't seem to be all that common."

Starfire looked sad.

"Well Kory, where the system fails, there's us. We'll find the evidence that they did this and put the men behind bars for the rest of their natural lives."

Raven thought of making a cynical comment on sentencing and parole and prisons in general, but Kory looked confused and depressed enough.

"Robin, I found some stuff online. You should take a look."

Robin did so, and a minute later he was surfing through the ASP's main website.

"Geez." Robin said. Racism had gone high-tech. He clicked on one link that said "Gooks" and was rewarded with a cartoon drawing of a leering, malevolent Asian male.

"A yellow, thieving baboon." The text read. "He will steal your job, your wife, your daughter. He will live on welfare while taking everything you have. He is the enemy."

"Smart people. Love how the first and second lines contradict each other."  Raven said.

Robin didn't know why, but he read on, clicking other links.

It pretty much said the same thing for everyone not of the Aryan race. Jewish people were the enemy. Black people were the enemy. Hispanics, Communists, Catholics (that made Robin arch an eyebrow, until he read on and found the ASP had their own religion, the Aryan Christian Church), and so on. They were all planning to destroy America, and that Armageddon would soon be here to burn them off the earth and leave a nice, pure world filled with non-dirty by birth white people. Apparently the Second Coming was a Caucasians-only affair.

The worst thing was a song, a hymn actually, probably for the ASP's own church. Robin read it. By now he was comfortably numb to the line these people had.

_White and proud_

_That's what I am_

_Storming the streets_

_Getting rid of the trash_

_What's wrong with knowing your race is strong?_

_Aryan people unite against:_

_Drugs, race mixing and crime._

_Brothers and sisters, stand by my side,_

_Join the fight for what's right._

Then Robin read the line after that. Apparently a twelve-year old girl had written the song.

The comfortable numbness abandoned him.

"My god…" he said, leaning back and putting his face in his hands. "What's happening to this city? How did people like this wind up here?"

"They ARE acting fairly bold." Raven agreed, moving in and typing. "I logged onto a few websites by groups who specialize in fighting people like this." Raven said. She called up the website of an organization called Hatewatch, who had a file on the ASP.

"This group's been chasing after ASP for years. Apparently they've left, in theory anyway, a trail of bodies all over the country. Killing Curtis Green would be right up their alleyway, in theory anyway. But again, no hard evidence. Still, they've been very secretive lately. And I can understand why. Hatewatch and their fellows have been having more success lately in their civil lawsuits. Plus, society, while it still has a long way to go, a lot of it seems to finally accepting the concept that a different skin color doesn't mean you're bad. Still, it doesn't really fit. The ASP has set up camps before, but in areas that tend to be more remote, where more people are in tune with how they think. Why here?"

"They said that one of us invited them. Did he mean…one of the Titans?" Robin asked.

"Impossible." Raven replied.

"Maybe their boldness, with the march, and the murder, is due to the fact that they think they have a powerful ally would will provide protection, help them get a foothold in this city for the upcoming racial war they seem to think will be happening very soon." Robin said.

"Robin…seriously…should we think…?"

"In a purely logical sense. Ok, I can safely say we can eliminate Victor and Kory. Gar is out because if he's a vegetarian and can't stand eating animals, I doubt he would go for the killing of his fellow man, not to mention he's best friends with Victor. If I may say so, I am sure as hell not a racist…"

"Agreed." Raven said.

"And neither are you. Rob? Forget it. And though we don't know her very well, I haven't seen the slightest indication of it in Tara (Terra's real name. Convenient, eh?). So unless Tara is one of the greatest actresses in the world…that just leaves the one Titan who isn't here to defend himself…"

"NO. Noel is NOTHING like that." Raven said, anger creeping into her tone.

"I wasn't saying he was. But think about it. Wouldn't he be a great beacon, even if he doesn't know about it? His clothes, his look…pure white. A great metaphor, especially for people who like to look at things so that they fit their reality…"

"And it looks like that's exactly what they did." Beast Boy suddenly said, walking into the room. He tossed some pamphlets at the two.

"ASP left town and went back to their camp without causing any trouble. But a few strays hung around. I managed to get some propaganda they left behind. Take a look at who's on the cover."

Robin and Raven took a look, and their eyes widened as they saw the picture of Noel and Victor, in the very uncompromising position.

"Methinks something is afoot." Beast Boy said, sucking on a candy pipe he had gotten from somewhere. Robin picked up his communicator.

"Vic?"

"Yeah Fearless?"

"You might wanna come up here."

Victor did so, and was mystified as the rest of them at the picture. For a bit anyway.

"Wait, I remember that! That was when Noel caught me after I fell when we were fighting the Puppet Giant." Victor said.

"He caught you by the NECK?" Robin said incredulously.

"He didn't mean to! He was just trying to catch me, and he did…there. I barely felt it, and if he hadn't I could have been seriously hurt."

"And someone snapped a picture, and it found its way into their hands, and the ASP saw it as a calling card that Jump City was good territory, and here we are now." Raven said.

"You think they noticed Noel wasn't there?" Gar said.

"I think the more likely question is how they're spinning the fact Noel wasn't there." Robin said.

The Titans were silent for a bit.

"Ok guys, we can't brood on this. Instead, we need to stay alert. Everyone, keep doing research. The ASP has gotten away with what its done so far because we were busy with other things and didn't notice what they were doing. But they know we can see them now. Hopefully they'll keep trying to act like they're just some misunderstood group of people with different opinions until we can find some evidence to link them to the murder. And we will. I won't stand to have those kind of people in my city, and I think you all can say the same."

"Yeah." Was the general reply.

"Good. Shall we call Noel and tell him?"

"Not unless we have to." Raven said. "I think we can handle this by ourselves."

"Hopefully before anything else happens." Beast Boy said.

************************

"DAMN THOSE TEENAGERS!" Dunagan thundered, slamming his fist onto his desk. His small office was as cramped as a sardine can with him and his three main officers in it. "I should have known! They must have locked up our brother in their tower so he couldn't greet us! Traitors!"

"Grand Dragon…" one of the officers said. "I know we've been planning this for some time, but…"

"SOLIDER, ARE YOU QUESTIONING ME?" Dunagan roared.

"Sir, no I am not sir!"

"Good." Dunagan said. "We can't let them intimidate us. This country doesn't have much more time! Every day, we see more street gangs, race riots, more crime and rape and sodomy! None of it being told to the people due to those bleeding heart left wingers who own all the papers and media and think that we owe all those pieces of shit something! And to make it worse, our gene pool is being tainted by interracial marriages and copulations! It cannot be allowed to continue! We must get our holy crusade ready! We MUST purify the land before we are consumed with corruption!"

"Yes sir!" the officers said.

"Good men. Don't let them scare you. They have hope. They just need to be convinced. And before we can do that, we need certain elements removed. That alien Gook whore for one. And I think that green boy is a tool of the Devil as well…but above all else, we must get rid of that robotic nigger! We must finish what our brother Savior could not do, in thanks for his gracious offer for us to come here! Even if we cannot convince his fellows, we will have him!"

"Grand Dragon, we may want to try and convince Robin…" one of the officers said.

"No! He is a traitor to his race and us! We will burn him with his slut!"

"Maybe…but I was thinking…that that might just bring the Bat down here…and that could be very bad for our cause…"

Dunagan paused. His officer had a point. Batman saw everything in one color, and he carried a grudge. He didn't care for any crusade except his own.

"You make a good point soldier! We will take that into consideration. Now…"

A knock at the door.

"Enter!"

Another man entered.

"Sir, we have obtained the necessary information, sir!"

"Excellent. But are you certain this is good?"

"Yes sir! Our contact says everything is in place or will be!"

A grin, almost feral in nature, spread across Dunagan's face.

"Excellent work soldier!"

"Thank you sir!"

"Officers, prepare. Our Lord God has smiled on us. This is our sign! We will strike at the heart of those traitorous Titans, and remove the corruption that hinders our brother. Tonight, we make this city ours. Tonight, that mecha-coon dies!"

"YES SIR!"

"BLOOD!"

"BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD! KILL KILL KILL!"

"CAN YOU GIVE ME A HALLELUIAH!"

**_"HALLELUIAH!"_**

************************

"Hey Rob. Anything?" Terra said, as Gauntlet came in.

"Nope. They behaved themselves. Almost a pity." Rob said. "You knowe, I've been thinking. Non-racists, like us, say we don't care, as I heard it once, if you are black, white, purple, or green."

"Yeah?" Beast Boy said, not really paying attention.

"Well, I was thinking…purple? You know, maybe those racists have something! To hell with the purple people!…Unless they are suffocating!…Then help them!" Rob declared. He was trying to lighten the mood, and the looks his fellow Titans were giving him said they knew that, but it wasn't working. "Er, anyway…on the plus side, I got something great!"

"What?" Robin said, looking up from the computer.

"Tickets to _The Producers!_" Rob said, holding up eight pieces of paper. Starfire gasped.

"But they have been sold out for weeks!" she said. "How did you get them?"

"I have my ways." Rob said, smiling.

(flashback)

Rob walked up to the theater ticket window.

"Eight tickets to the Producers please!"

"Kid, we're sold out." The woman at the window said.

"But…eight tickets!" Rob said, sounding wounded.

"Look kid, I said…" the woman snapped as she keyed in the command to show that all the seats were sold out, so she could spin the computer around and show it to Rob.

But that plan went down the drain as she looked, in some surprise, at the fact that a reservation can been cancelled not ten minutes ago and that fifteen seats were now available.

'I don't believe it." She said. She looked at Rob. "Hey, you're a Titan. You didn't hack the system, did you?"

"Ma'am, I can't program a VCR." Rob replied. 

"…Right. Well, I guess you can have your tickets after all…"

(end flashback)

"But, can't be giving away my secrets!" Rob said.

"Weren't those expensive?" Gar asked.

"Don't worry. I used Noel's credit card." Rob replied. Raven, reading a book nearby, smacked her hand into her head at that.

"Can we go Robin? Please! I really don't want to look at all these ugly things all night." Kory said, giving Robin puppy eyes. They didn't really work, but Robin at least had a considering expression on his face instead of outright denying it.

"Well…I don't think any sudden magic evidence is going to appear. Now, whether the ASP will try something else…"

"I don't think so. You gave a pretty strong impression you didn't like them Robin. If this Dunagan is as smart as he seemed, he'll think you're watching him like a hawk. I think he'll try something else, but not tonight." Rob said.

Robin sighed.

"It would be nice to get a break from all this. Ok guys. But we're bringing our communicators and we leave at the slightest hint of trouble."

"Deal!" Rob said.

"Wait, there are only seven of us." Raven said.

"Yeah. Us, and I figured Cyborg could bring Latrisha." Rob said.

"Er…you mean like a date? Then what who would be all be…er…" Beast Boy said, trying to avoid looking at Terra. She was doing her own innocent whistling.

"Hey save it, I have to bring Mr. Stick Up The Ass's girlfriend." Rob said. Raven's eyes glowed. "Er, what a joyful experience that will be!"

"I dunno guys…Tish and I have been…er…I better go…" Victor said, walking out. Beast Boy recognized Cyborg's tone and followed him. He caught up to him on the stairs.

"Are we thinking along those lines again Vic?" Gar said.

"Really Gar, you don't understand. You saw how people stared at us."

"Who cares?"

 "Maybe. But what you didn't see was her suddenly flinch when she tried to touch me and touched one of my metal parts. It was the sudden cold, I know, but still…as great as it is to finally have someone in my life, I wonder if I should. Heck, I kind of wonder if I have a right. I'm only half man…"

"Oh stop that. You're no more inhuman then a man with a broken arm. It's all in your head Vic."

"But we've been having problems…"

"Try and work through them! Don't use that as an excuse to slowly drift apart! Really Vic, that's just plain weak."

"I suppose."

"That's not good enough Vic!"

"Geez, since when did you become Cupid?"

"Seriously Victor. You worry your, um, special status will drive a wedge in the bud you have? Fine. Make up for it in some way. You may be only "half a man" technically, but you can still prove you're 100% gentleman."

Victor smiled. Well, half a smile, half a smirk.

"You're right. Now, you wanna turn that around for Tara?"

"Dude, what are you talking about?"

"NOW who's playing dumb?"

"Dude, really…!"

************************

They say what you don't know won't hurt you. In the case of the Titans though, that opinion was completely wrong…

"AH CRAP!" Cyborg yelled. He was back at the computer, and as Rob and Gar jumped up, it had apparently told him something he didn't like.

"What's wrong Vic?"

"I made a mistake. I might not be able to bring Latrisha with you guys."

"What? Why?"

"Because today's the day of my…hmmmmm." Cyborg said. He wondered how to describe this. "My cleaning."

"Cleaning?" Rob said.

"There are certain details one must take into account when you have a body of flesh and metal. Every month or so I have to do this. I usually time it so that you guys don't notice. But I could have sworn I had it next week! But the computer says its today."

"Well, skip it."

"It's not that simple guys. If I put it off, it could cause me severe problems."

"More so then breaking your date with Latrisha?"

Cyborg stewed.

"Can you cut any time off of it?" Rob tried to suggest.

"Maybe…" Cyborg said, as he tapped keys. "Well, some. But even if I start now, I'll only finish at nearly 8:00 PM, which is when the play starts. I'll make you guys all miss the first part…"

"Nonsense. And you aren't using this as an excuse!" Gar said. "Here's what we'll do. We'll go on ahead. You stay here. Latrisha can come here, and you can drive her here with the T-Car. If we time it right you can just make it, and you can have some personal time with her!"

"But…"

"NO BUTS! Get moving!" Gar said, pulling Cyborg up. "Is the procedure ready?"

"Yes…"

"Then go!"

"Gar, should you really leave me all alone here? What about the ASP?"

"We'll turn on all the defenses! Latrisha is programmed into them, they aren't! You'll be fine!" Gar said, shoving Victor out of the room. A considerable task considering the size and weight differences.

"Well, that's one problem averted." Rob said. The shadow of the ASP might have been putting a damper on their day, but it wouldn't be ruining their evening. They could get back to getting rid of them tomorrow.

Rob had no idea how wrong he was.

************************

Remember what was said about not knowing and the supposed result of no pain? That needs to be considered.

For you see, Cyborg had been right. His treatment wasn't until the following week.

Someone had hacked into the TT computer and altered it. The Teen Titans had a very complex system, but most of it revolved around their defenses. Messing up their personal schedule, on the other hand, was very doable.

And it had been done.

Just as the reservation at the theatre had been cancelled. There would be some angry people tonight when they showed up and found they had somehow given up their seats without meaning to. It had been as easy as reading some of Starfire's e-mail and her desire to see the musical.

And as this hacker worked, a slight ding sounded nearby.

"Your payment has been made." A computer voice said.

The figure looked it up, and then chuckling madly, he went into a storm of computer commands. Within thirty minutes he had the cash in hand. Greatly pleased, he began setting up the final stage. This was the hard part, but he was a genius. It would be done.

And he always made sure people got what they paid for.

He didn't know why these people wanted the info and situation they were being asked for though. One of the problems of the computer age: clients, if they wanted to, remained faceless. Oh well. It was probably some supervillain with a grudge against Cyborg. Maybe he or she'd succeed. That would be one less problem when he and his friends next struck and finally defeated the Titans.

************************

Some time later, Gar Logan, in a nice suit (and one he hadn't worn since the dinner that had been interrupted by the Welder), knocked on Cyborg's door. He hadn't seen his friend for nearly four hours.

"Vic? We're leaving? Anything…." Beast Boy trailed off as he saw what was behind the door.

There was a reason Victor Stone had never told any of his friends about this procedure: it really didn't look pleasant.

And we can see why. In the center of Cyborg's room is suspended half a head, with a small chunk taken out of it, held up by four small, delicate arms. And all around him are a myriad of puzzle pieces, all of Cyborg's body broken down into its separate parts, some of which are being cleaned by other arms. It really isn't a pretty sight.

Beast Boy, not being able to help himself, stared for a bit.

And them Cyborg's lone eye opened.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Beast Boy yelled. "Oh sorry Vic, you startled me! I thought you'd be asleep!"

"I was. What is it Gar, it's hard for me to talk like this." Victor Stone said with some effort.

"Well uh, we're leaving…you want anything?"

"Check to make sure the defenses have been programmed to have Latrisha in them and then turn them on. And leave the bridge up so she can get over here."

"Will do…uh Vic?"

"Gar, really…"

"I'm sorry but uh…where's the rest of you?"

"My remaining organic parts are soaking in a nutrient solution. If you really want I can show them to you."

"No no, no need! Sorry to pry! Well, see you there, hopefully in time!" Gar Logan said, and ran off.

"All is forgiven." Cyborg replied, and closed his eye again.

And so the Titans left, leaving Cyborg alone. He was not worried. He was well protected.

Or so he thought.

For approximately seven minutes after the Titans had left, all the defenses shut down.

************************

Back at the ASP camp, Dunagan got the call he had been waiting for.

"It's done. You know what to do." He said to the men he had assembled. Six of them. His best. But even that would have hardly made them a challenge for Cyborg.

But they had an equalizer, which one of the men, who also happened to be the one who had wielded the bullwhip the night before, held in his hands. It was large and mean-looking. Much like him, and his feelings towards the nigger they were going to kill tonight.

He could hardly wait. It would be glorious.

************************

The best laid plans o' mice and men are ever led astray, or something like that. For you see, that was happening, as Cyborg opened his eyes.

What surprised him was that he was finished nearly forty minutes before he had expected. Strange. Wondering if there had been an error, he went to the computer. Nope, everything had been done. He was now fresh and new.

What Cyborg didn't know, and what no one had predicted, was the fact that since Cyborg had been tricked into having his treatment a week early, not as much effort was needed. Hence the early finish.

Cyborg wondered what to do. His friends were all at the theatre by now. And he still had some time before Latrisha showed up. Hmmmm…

And then, what Gar had said some time ago occurred to him.

_You may be only half a man but that doesn't mean you can't prove you're not 100% gentleman…_

Perfect. He'd grab a bike (Not the T-Car, he'd just cleaned it and he wanted it to look good for his lady) from the garage and zip out to get some flowers and some chocolate, or something in that vein. She'd love it.

And that was what Victor Stone did, as he hurried down to the garage, borrowed one of Robin's bikes, and zoomed off.

And now the second Operation Market Garden factor. Latrisha showed up twenty minutes earlier then expected. Why? I do not know.

But the car that slowly followed her onto the TT bridge…we know one thing…their intentions are not good.

************************

"Well, what does she like?" the clerk at the flower store was saying.

"Uhhhhhh..errrrrr…." Cyborg stammered. The female clerk gave him a well meaning, "oh you didn't bother finding out did you you stupid male" smile. "Aw heck, just give me one of everything!"

"As you wish." The clerk said, and collected flowers for Cyborg's order. He paid and left, heading back for the bike. Now, should he get chocolates? These flowers were very nice, as he turned his head to smell them. Ah, refreshing…

And then the laser blast exploded near his foot.

************************

"Hey, Cyborg! Are you in there! You stupid metal punk! If you made me get all dressed up and come out here and keep me waiting…!" Latrisha said. She had gotten out of her car and rung the bell. No answer. So Latrisha had walked back and was yelling at the windows. She didn't know why she put up with him. Yeah, he was kind and brave and he knew how to treat her, but at other times he was a moron who didn't think before he spoke, and he hadn't even given her his real name! Did he know…

Perhaps Latrisha should have guessed that the reason that Cyborg had not given her his real name was to protect her.

And in the end, that failed anyway.

As Latrisha let out a muffled scream as a pair of powerful hands clamped around her mouth from behind.

To Be Continued


	3. An Eye For An Eye

Chapter 19 (Part 3): An Eye for an Eye…

_"Oh, God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths, to steal away their brains."_

William Shakespeare

* * *

"What do you mean, he's not here?" said Bo Cade. He, his brother Earl, and four other ASP members had been the ones selected for this mission. And everything had seemed to fall into place: the defenses were off and the Tower was empty.

The problem was, their target wasn't there either.

"Well, the door's locked, the windows won't break, and besides, we're not reading anything on that fancy doohickey the Grand Dragon gave us. Looks like the nigger skipped town." Said another ASP member, a large man by the name of Rudy Blake.

"Shall we call the Grand Dragon? Ask for new orders?"

"No…we will just modify our plan…" Bo Cade said. "We have the nigger whore, we'll use her as bait. Bring the coon to us."

"Just as bait?" Earl said. He was also a large man, more in a bulky sense, and with a pair of eyes too close together that had a constant look of dull cruelty.

Earl's smile would have done a shark proud.

"I'm sure the Grand Dragon can think of something to…occupy us." Earl said, as he looked at the teenage girl tied up in the back of the car, her eyes filled with fear.

It gave him a charge.

* * *

So, you're probably wondering, if all the ASP men are there and they don't know where Cyborg is, who was shooting at him?

Cyborg was about to find out, as he instinctively dropped the flowers.

"Cyborg!" came a voice. Cyborg looked up.

"…GIZMO?"

Indeed, it was the short tech genius, who was floating down on his jet pack, a small laser pistol by his side. Strangely not aimed at him, but Cyborg didn't much care, as he growled and armed his sonic cannon.

"Wha…WAIT! NO NO! YOU DON'T…!" Gizmo yelled, and then dodged aside as Cyborg fired. "WAIT WAIT! DON'T SHOOT!"

"Yeah, right, like I'm going to listen to YOU." Cyborg growled.

"I don't-ACK!" Gizmo yelled, flying up. "I don't want to fight!" he finished, and he actually, to Cyborg's great surprise, threw his gun down.

Didn't surprise him enough to stop though, as he fired one last time. Gizmo flew up again, and Cyborg switched to his grappling hook to follow him, yanking himself up to the roof.

"Cyborg, really! Peace! Serious! Scout's honor!" Gizmo protested. He had actually landed and was holding his arms up, showing he was unarmed.

"Yeah right. I know you Giz. You're just trying to trick me!"

"Not this time!"

"Prove it."

The look on Gizmo's face was so alien to Cyborg he actually scared him a little. Gizmo's usual naughty, malicious grin had been replaced by a look of deadly seriousness as great as Robin had ever worn.

"I swear that if I am lying, whoever gave me my intellect has every right to take it away right now."

And as corny as it was, something in Gizmo's tone worked. Though Cyborg kept his cannon trained on him.

"If you REALLY don't want to fight, why did you shoot at me?"

"To get your attention! That was a light stun blast! And I fired to miss! I wanted to grab you before…wait, if you're here…maybe…"

"Hurry it up! My girlfriend is probably waiting back at the Tower, steaming and thinking of new ways to emasculate me!"

"…Girlfriend?" Gizmo said.

"Yeah! What is it!"

"Oh god…oh god…" Gizmo said, actually putting his hand on his forehead. By now, even Cyborg was beginning to think Gizmo was sincere. He wasn't a good enough actor to fake something like this.

"What's going on?"

"I think I may have done something terrible." Gizmo said.

* * *

Let us flash back about an hour.

The temporary headquarters of the Troika. They have just gotten back from another H.I.V.E mission, one that for once did not involve the Titans. Rather, it was a final test for the next bunch of graduates, in which the previous group provided aid. The same thing had happened when the Troika had done the test. The mission had gone well, and the Troika had been give some leisure time. Mammoth was working out, Jinx (who has by now recovered from her part in the Murdercrow incident) is lying on a couch, reading a newspaper, and Gizmo is walking in, chortling and looking very pleased with himself.

"Hope you're hungry!" he said.

"Not really. Why?" Jinx said, not looking up from her newspaper.

"Because we're going to be eating well tonight!" Gizmo said, flashing his newly acquired wad of cash. Jinx lowered the newspaper in appreciation.

"Nice work. Where'd you get that? Rob a bank?"

"Please, that would be too easy! No, I sold some information. And arranged a headache for the Titans at the same time! Oh, I feel good!" Gizmo said, and began dancing.

"The Titans? Giz, WE need to be the ones to defeat them. I hope you didn't just rob us of our revenge." Jinx said.

"Nah! It was specific info! They wanted me to set it up so that Cyborg was alone in the Tower. I guess they have a specific grudge. I'm sure that even if he doesn't make it, they'll be plenty of…" Gizmo trailed off. Jinx had a certain shocked look in her eye. "What?"

"Cyborg?"

"Yeah, they were very specific on that. And I did a nice hack job if I do say…"

"Giz…these people who you arranged this with…do you know who they were?"

"Uh…no. It was all arranged through the computer. Why do you-ASKKKKK!" Gizmo yelped, as Jinx had suddenly sprang up and off the couch, grabbed Gizmo by the collar, and lifted him up.

"YOU IDIOT! DIDN'T YOU READ THE NEWS TODAY!" she yelled.

"What? No! Why?"

Jinx picked up the paper and shoved in Gizmo's face.

"There's a fucking white supremacy group who's shown up in Jump City!"

"WHAT?" Gizmo said. He took the paper, and being a speed-reader, was able to scan the article detailing the arrival of the ASP and their possible link to the murder of Curtis Green very quickly.

"What do you want to bet you sold the information to them?" Jinx said coldly.

You're probably wondering why Jinx cares. The Murdercrow incident probably had something to do with it, but her reason is pretty much the same one that resulted due to the feeling that was now sweeping over Gizmo.

Now, you must understand, Gizmo did not like Cyborg. He didn't like any of the other Teen Titans either. Heck, it could be said he HATED the Teen Titans, and if they all died, he wouldn't shed a tear. Even if he had a hand in it.

But that was because they were the Titans. Nothing more. Gizmo, himself, would have destroyed Cyborg…but that was because he was Cyborg. No other reason.

But killing him because he was black?

To Gizmo, that was absurd, asinine, idiotic. Hating someone because they were black? Gizmo barely even noticed Cyborg's skin color. The kind of thinking that fueled racism belonged back in the Dark Ages that spawned it.

As mentioned, Gizmo had just gotten back from a mission where he had been with four of the next set of graduates from the H.I.V.E. Two of them had been black. Gizmo had worked with them, watched their back, and they had watched his. And while it couldn't be said that they had gotten along famously, they had worked well enough. They had been a team. Fellows. Humans working together to solve a problem, even if it wasn't the most legal of ones.

For all his flaws, and possible hypocrisy, Gizmo was not a racist. And the idea that his info had been used for a hate group suddenly made him feel ill. Some supervillain, yes, he could live with that. A criminal of some kind? Fine. But as mentioned, that was going for Cyborg because he was Cyborg, a Teen Titan, a superhero.

Going after him because he was black? No. That was disgusting even for Gizmo.

"My god…" Gizmo said, dropping the paper. "What have I done?"

* * *

At least, that was the flashback. Gizmo had just settled for telling Cyborg that he had arranged him to be set up for the ASP. And that was as far as he got as Cyborg stormed over and yanked him up.

"YOU DID **_WHAT?!?!?!?!_**" Cyborg bellowed.

"I didn't know! I thought it was just a villain! Not a bunch of racists! This is Jump City! I didn't think we had racists!" Gimzo replied, squirming.

"You stupid little…" Cyborg growled.

"Look, hit me if you must, I probably deserve it! But if you're here, then your girlfriend may be in danger! The ASP was going to your Tower!"

And a cold chill ran through Cyborg.

"TISH!" he screamed, letting Gizmo go. He nearly jumped off the roof to his bike, until he realized that would probably hurt more then it helped.

"Cyborg!" Gizmo said, and Cyborg turned to see Gizmo offering him his backpack.

"Use my jets! They'll get you there faster!"

"WHAT? You expect me to put that on? How do I know you're not really in league with those fascists?"

"You want me to ride along with you? The extra weight will just slow you down!" Gizmo said. The cold logic of the point sank in. Cyborg thought it over, then grabbed the backpack and slapped it on.

Almost immediately, the rockets activated, throwing Cyborg into the air. He weaved for a bit until he got the balance and flew off. He was actually heading for the Tower. Gizmo was telling the truth.

Gizmo watched Cyborg fly off. He knew this was really out of character for him, and he knew that the next time that they met, he and Cyborg would be enemies again.

But he genuinely felt repentant. The idea that a group like the ASP was setting up shop outside Jump City…god dammit, those people were sick. Even to Gizmo.

And he'd helped them. He felt dirty. He ground his teeth as his regret turned to anger. Reaching down, he pulled a cell phone out of his boot.

He had to make some calls.

* * *

The camp was charged and ready. This time, the men weren't wearing hoods. Dunagan had, in a mass at their church, said they would look their enemy in the eye this time, not hide behind a shield so that they would be protected by the corrupt and persecuting laws of the failed government that claimed to rule them.

The campfire had been lit, and the "box" had been flown back in. This was another great tool that modern technology had brought to their crusade. It was a small hovercraft-esque vehicle that had a great deal of storage space, hence it was called the box. You put something into it and programmed in some coordinates, and it flew there until you called it back. It was where Dunagan and his men had hidden all the evidence of the previous night, the evidence that cops couldn't find. But they had brought it back now. They needed it.

The weapons were out, including all the special weapons that Dunagan had purchased at great expense. He had hoped that their brother, Savior, a true beacon of purity in appearance and deed, would be able to turn some of his fellows to the truth. But it appeared he was alone. So be it. Dunagan had prepared for that as well. Each of the weapons would deal with those demon teenagers. Including the nigger who was surely on his way. That weapon was the closest to hand.

But his scouts hadn't seen anything yet, so until then…

"HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Latrisha wailed from the cross she was tied on. This couldn't be real. This had to be a nightmare. This stuff didn't happen any more.

Wrong. It was too bad Latrisha hadn't seen any news or read a paper that day. She might have known about the ASP and been more cautious. But cruel fate had not allowed that.

It did that at times, and woe be you if you were selected.

* * *

The jetpack turned off a few feet from the ground. Cyborg hit the ground running, not even noticing the pack removing itself and flying off, presumingly back to its master.

"TISH! LATRISHA!" Cyborg screamed, running around the Tower.

And he found was her car.

That was bad, but as he started for it, he saw two other things.

Another set of tire tracks.

And Latrisha's purse on the ground.

Slowly, Cyborg walked over to it and picked it up.

"No….no…." Cyborg said.

Then his anger exploded.

"GOD DAMN YOU YOU FUCKING ANIMALS! I'LL KILL THE WHOLE LOT OF YOU!" Cyborg roared, as he ran for the Tower.

* * *

Latrisha wept as Dunagan, who had approached her, surrounding by his rabble, all of them nearly foaming at the mouth, ran his knife over her body, cutting away her clothes.

"Please…please…"

"Shut up you fucking nigger whore." One of Dunagan's lackies said. Robin had, when he had first seen Dunagan, reflected on how horribly ordinary he looked. Not any more. His hatred and his rage had come out, burned onto his features, the passion of a zealot and the rage of a fool.

"Please…I never did anything to you…"

"Yes you did." Dunagan said. "You were born."

Then he gestured, and Latrisha saw the man with the whip.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

The whip cracked, and Latrisha's scream rang through the whole forest. But there was no one there who heard it who didn't enjoy it.

* * *

The garage door exploded outward as Cyborg drove the T-Car through it, not even bothering opening the door or caring if he damaged the car. It was a car. It could be fixed.

Latrisha…oh god…

Cyborg had sent a distress signal to his comrades, but he didn't have time to wait for them. And what he didn't know was that his signal was being blocked. One last trick of Gizmo, which even the remorseful midget had forgotten. In fact, at the moment the Titans were arguing with another group of people who had shown up, both groups claiming to have tickets to the same seats.

Maybe that was better. Robin might want to use caution, even with them holding Latrisha, try and stay within the boundary of the laws…

Fuck the laws. Fuck all the lawyers and judges if they tried to charge him with anything. Cyborg wasn't going to let these KKK-wanna-be pieces of shit hide behind them. He was going to drive straight to the camp and smash every single face he saw.

God damn the consequences.

* * *

The camp was filled with noise: yelling and shouting and chanting and stomping, and above it the terrible cries of a female.

But above that rose a certain sound: a loud bell. So the scouts had spotted someone coming.

"Ok, get ready boys!" Dunagan ordered.

"SIR YES SIR!"

"Our time has arrived! WE WILL SMITE OUR ENEMIES! GIVE ME A HALLEHUIAH!"

"HALLEHUIAH!" all of the men roared.

"Put the finishing touches on our welcoming present." Dunagan said, indicting the severally injured and weeping Latrisha.

The man put down the whip and, walking over to the fire, removed the branding iron, the cross-shaped metal glowing red hot.

* * *

The T-Car was twenty feet from the makeshift camp when the sentries opened fire on it.

The bullets bounced off, as the roof opened and a super-sized sonic cannon popped out, blowing the ramparts apart with two quick bursts, sending the scouts falling with a scream.

A battering ram slammed down over the grill, and a second later the T-Car exploded through the front gate, shards of wood flying as ASP members dove for cover.

More of them opened fire on the car, but Cyborg yanked on the wheel and spun the car in a powerful donut, his on-car computers picking out targets and blasting them. As the car spin, the sides opened and released smoke grenades and DD's (Distraction Devices, non-lethal devices that combined 170 decibels of noise with 2.3 million candlepower of light, roughly the equivalent of a space shuttle engine going off in your face). Dark shields slammed over the T-Car's windows as all the devices detonated, throwing Cyborg's attackers into stunned disarray.

The door opened, and Cyborg stepped out. The first ASP member got a punch so strong it nearly separated his jaw from his head. The second got punched in the gut and then thrown headfirst into the side of the T-Car. Twin sonic cannon shots took out two more members, and as Cyborg approached the last one, a man-mountain that was even bigger then him, he laced his hands together and brought them down on the giant's skull. The man crumpled with a whimper.

Cyborg spun around, waiting for his next target.

Only to find…there was none. All his attackers were disabled.

Impossible. He'd taken out ten at most. There were at least several dozen! Where were they?

An eerie quiet descended on the camp, as Cyborg, his sensors going full bore, carefully walked forward, looking everywhere for snipers, ambushes, traps. Nothing.

Then the campfire came into his field of vision. As did the cross. As did the figure crumpled at the bottom of it.

"LATRISHA!" Cyborg cried, running over. He reached her, and pulled her over.

His eyes widened in shock and horror.

Latrisha's lovely looks were gone. Half of her face was scorched and melted away from where the branding iron had been pressed. Her body was covered with bloody scars from where the whips had ravaged her.

And she didn't have a pulse.

Forgetting the ASP, Cyborg laid his girlfriend down and began administrating CPR. He did that for seemingly an eternity, but in reality it was about two minutes.

All for naught. He had been too late.

She was dead.

Cyborg let out a shuddering sobbing noise, as tears began to leak from his one human eye.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…so sorry…" he cried.

He heard footsteps behind him.

"I guess her heart gave out."

Cyborg knew the voice. Slowly, he closed Latrisha's eyes, forever frozen in an

expression of pain and horror, and stood up, his back to Dunagan, who didn't seem all too worried. In fact, he looked mighty pleased with himself.

"Pity. It would have been delicious, everyone looking at her like the freak she was. But in the end she showed she was little more then trash, like the rest." Dunagan said.

Strangely, there was no immediate great explosion of anger for Cyborg. Yet. No, he felt remarkably calm, as his hand reconfigured into his sonic cannon.

"You know…" Cyborg said. "It's strange how those who so insist they are righteous and just…often have the most blood on their hands."

Then it came, as Cyborg turned with a scream and charged at Dunagan.

Dunagan just smirked.

As the still unnamed man who had done the whipping emerged from behind Dunagan and aimed a gigantic rifle at Cyborg, whose barrel lit up in a blue glow.

Cyborg didn't even bother dodging, he just continued his charge, hoping to make it there before the weapon fired.

Again, for naught.

The blue blast enveloped him, and Cyborg stopped, falling face first into the dirt as all his systems shorted out.

"Modified EMP cannon. Even deals with the safeguards you probably had. To put you down in the dirt where you belong." Dunagan said.

Cyborg was frozen. All his mechanical parts had gone dead, and his backup safety systems had been shorted out as well. He was completely helpless. He could hear the whoops as all the ASP came out of hiding, hear the thunder of their steps as they gathered around him, and he raged and cursed and thundered and promised God anything, even an eternity in hell, if he could just get up and avenge the death of Latrisha, who hadn't deserved what she suffered at the hands of these animals.

No, they weren't even animals. They were devils.

Cyborg felt his legs being lifted up and then he was being dragged, his face being pulled along the dirt, stones cutting the flesh part, as he was pulled into one of the buildings. It appeared to be some kind of meeting hall. Cyborg was dragged to the front, and ropes were wrapped around his arms, legs, and neck, as he was hoisted up and tied to something, probably another cross. It appeared the whole camp was here, a sea of green and angry, vicious faces, all of them filled with the delight of the bully, the sadist, the breed of man who found joy in harming those weaker then them.

"My brothers, we have won!" Dunagan said. The crowd roared. Cyborg couldn't turn his head, but he could make out that things were happening in his peripheral vision.

"God have delivered unto us our hated foe, and in his glorious name, we will use his gift well! We shall judge him as he deserves! Is the jury ready?"

"YES SIR!" Said a group of voices off to Cyborg's left.

"The charge is defying god's natural order, first by being a nigger, and next, by replacing your human parts with cold mechanical ones! You are doubly a freak!" Dunagan said.

"Do I even get a defense?" Cyborg asked.

"SILENCE! You deserve none! You are a descendant of Satan! Your entire disgusting breed is! You seek to destroy our country and our birthright! But you will not succeed! This city will become a stronghold for us! We will stand tall in the face of Armageddon! We will FIGHT!"

"FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!"

"We will fight those who will deprive us of our natural heritage! We will fight the infidels who tarnish our land! We will fight the demon warriors and freaks that stand in our way! We will bring to earth the New Nation, founded by our toil, our sweat, and our blood, and we will bring death to all others!"

"DEATH DEATH DEATH! KILL KILL **_KILL!"_**

Cyborg couldn't believe what he was seeing. This was impossible. It was too fast, too surreal. No one could have so much hate. No one could be so devoid of conscience.

Could he attribute it all to mob mentality? Groups were easier to control then individuals, and Dunagan clearly had this group eating out of his hand.

No…not just that.

They were people. And these people had embraced a terrible flaw in their species and raised it up until it had become a holy crusade to them. They couldn't live without their hate now. It defined their lives, their families, and their legacies. Without it, they crumpled up and became nothing.

They hated him because his skin was black. But their hearts and souls were blacker then his skin ever could be. They yelled to the throbbing beat of their own hearts of darkness.

"Jury, how do you find?" Dunagan said.

"We find the nigger guilty of his sins, and of trespassing, assault, attempted murder, and other crimes against the master race, SIR!" One of the men said.

"What is your sentence?"

"Death, sir!" they replied. The crowd roared.

"It is done! By the will of God and the great Aryan race, I sentence to death by purification! We will give you a sample of the flames that await you in hell." Dunagan said.

Another ASP member stepped into view, igniting a blowtorch. In another corner of his eye, Cyborg could see fuel cans, brought in during Dunagan's rant, piled high, waiting to be used.

"FOR BLOOD!" Dunagan bellowed.

"BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD **_BLOOD! DEATH DEATH DEATH! KILL KILL KILL!"_**

"CAN YOU GIVE ME A HALLELUIAH!"

**_"HALLELUIAH!"_**

"My brothers, it is done! This city, and this world, will be OURS!"

And then a tremendous cracking noise ran through the room, louder and more vicious then any normal whip could be, stunning the crowd into silence, as they all turned to see the figure now standing in the door.

"I'd like to test that theory." Savior said.


	4. Will Make The Whole World Blind

Chapter 20 (Part 4): Will Make The Whole World Blind

* * *

_"Cruelty has a human heart…terror the human form divine."_

William Blake

* * *

Everyone stared at Savior, as he retracted the Shimmer strand he had used as a whip to get everyone's attention. His eyes were cold and harsh.

Silence.

"Brother Savior! We are joyous that you have arrived, at last! A more gracious host you could not be!" Dunagan said.

"Welcome!" said the ASP member closest to Savior, as he approached. "Let us…"

Savior's fist slammed into the ASP's members face, as he flew back several feet, his nose and lips gushing blood. The crowd was shocked into silence again.

"Brother? BROTHER?" Savior hissed. "You mean THIS?" he snarled as he pulled one of the pamphlets bearing his image with Cyborg's on it. "You see this photo of a moment of camaraderie, and you dare say it makes me one of YOU?"

"Brother Savior…" Dunagan said.

"I AM NO BROTHER OF YOURS!!!!!!!!!!!" Noel roared. "You people are sick! You are more subhuman then any of the so-called "lesser races" could ever try to be! You take laws, and religion, and freedom of speech, glorious constructs we should all be accorded, and you perverted them into blind, ugly, vicious little things! You kill in the name of God and claim it is what he wants. God would spit on you if he could, but since he's not here, I'll gladly do it for him." Savior said, and spat on the floor.

The crowd was starting to get angry, as it began to sink it that Savior wasn't on their side. He was with the other Titans, including the one they had just been planning to burn at the stake, or cross.

Dunagan's face grew purple with fury.

"SO! YOU ARE A TRAITOR TO YOUR KIND AS WELL! YOU HAVE…"

The Shimmer slashed out, slamming into Dunagan's face and throwing him backwards. He hit the ASP member with the blowtorch, knocking the man over as he dropped the cutting heat tool, causing it to turn off.

"Shut up. Being in your very presence sickens me." Savior growled. "I've seen what your kind does. The pride of the Aryan race? The vanguard of the new world order? Fuck no. You're a bunch of bullying, pathetic, stupid IRRELEVANT sacks of flesh that look like men and talk like men. But you're not men. You're slime. A brother of yours? I would rather be burnt as black as coal."

"ARGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" Dunagan roared, as he got back up. "DEMON SAVIOR! YOU ARE A TRAITOR TO US AND YOUR KIND! YOU WILL BE BURNT WITH YOUR NIGGER FRIEND!"

"I'm not a traitor. I'm a human being. I'm clean of blood. I'm a man. And I am currently flipping the emergency reboot switch in Cyborg's head while you brain dead rednecks glare and get ready to attack me." Savior said.

Everyone paused.

And then with a roar, Cyborg came back to life, courtesy of a Shimmer strand Noel had slipped around and behind the ASP while he had been doing his little speech. A quick flex of his arms snapped the ropes like they were nothing, and Dunagan screamed as Cyborg lifted him up and threw him as hard as he could. He landed amongst the fuel and gasoline canisters, knocking them over. With a snarl, the unnamed giant ASP member raised the EMP cannon he had kept nearby and aimed it at Cyborg.

A Shimmer strand snatched it out of his hand and folded it in half, which was then smashed across the faces of three of the ASP men.

The small room erupted into pandemonium as the ASP attempted to fight back, but there were too many in too small a space. Cyborg grabbed two and slammed their skulls together, grabbed another and literally threw him into the ceiling, and then he backed up as his arm converted into his autocannon mode and he opened fire.

With, as it turned out, rubber bullets, tearing through the ranks of the men. Savior threw up a shield to block Cyborg's barrage and then sprang it out at the end of a Shimmer line as it turned into a ball shape and swung around his head like a mace.

"CYBORG! I'LL HANDLE THESE FUCKS! YOU GET DUNAGAN!" Savior yelled, and then coiled himself off the ground and launched himself into another group in a fury of whipping Shimmer strands. Cyborg saw that Dunagan was indeed gone, out a now open window. Cyborg just ran through the wall, his shoulder smashing a hole through the wooden barricade. He saw Dunagan fleeing into the building at the end of the compound: the church. He took off after him.

Savior sprang out more Shimmer lines, grabbing one of the ASP men and bringing him forward into a leaping thrust kick. Savior fell to the ground and did a strange disco-dance esque move as he spun around via and with the Shimmer, knocking down every ASP member near him.

Some of the ASP members had finally gotten guns out and begun shooting, but Savior pulled himself up and threw himself against the wall, bouncing off it via the Shimmer and into the body of one of the shooters. More shot at him, but all they hit were their fellows as Savior ping-ponged all over the room.

A smell filled his nostrils. Fuel. He landed, and realized the ground beneath him was slippery. He glanced over at the pile of gasoline cans.

And then his eyes fell on one of the smaller ASP members, who had grabbed up the blowtorch and was trying to relight it.

"Wait! NO YOU IDIOT! GASOLINE FUMES ARE AS…!" Savior yelled.

Sparks began to fly from the torch. Savior gave up and ran for it, throwing himself out through the nearest window.

Apparently some of the ASP members had gotten the message, as they were pouring out the door.

Two seconds later, the meeting hall exploded in a gigantic fireball, throwing Savior across the entire compound.

* * *

The door slammed open, and Cyborg walked in.

The church was fairly simple: two rows of pews, six each. A small alter at the front, and a large cross behind it.

Cyborg felt bad about taking the fight to here. But if there was a God, Cyborg was pretty sure he'd understand.

"Dunagan!" he yelled, walking forward, keeping his eyes open for any movement. "It's over!"

"NEVER!"

Cyborg's lone eye widened, and he turned and looked up as Dunagan hurled himself from the small perch above the door. How he had managed to get up there, Cyborg didn't know, as he tried to get his cannon up.

As Dunagan landed on his chest. Cyborg was forced backwards and down, landing, as Dunagan aimed the gun at his face.

The sound of the gunshot rang through the church.

* * *

The ASP members were trying to pick themselves up when one had a Shimmer strand lash around his ankle and hurl him into a wall.

"Why is it that the so called champions of the white race are always the worst examples of it?" Savior said, as he walked up to a man with a very flat face. "YOU! WHERE THE FUCK IS YOUR CHIN!" he yelled, and smashed his fist into his face before he could answer.

A high wind had whipped up, fanning the flames of the destroyed meeting hall, and sparks began to fly and land on the other buildings. They started to burn too, as Savior leapt into the air and came down on the face of another, larger ASP member, smashing him into the ground.

"The armory's on fire!" A frantic shout came. "Get the guns!"

A group of ASP men ran for the wooden armory. Savior got there first, as he tore the roof off the building and flipped it over him, bringing it down on the men. He then tossed the smoldering roof across the compound and, forming a giant shovel with the Shimmer, scooped up a huge hunk of dry dirt and dumped it all over the building and boxes so they wouldn't burn easily. He wanted as much evidence against these men as possible (and hopefully he wasn't contaminating too much of it, but being set on fire would contaminate it worse).

Gunshots came from behind him. A Shimmer shield sprang up instinctively, protecting its host, and Savior turned, throwing out more strands that disarmed his attackers.

Faced with a superior foe, some of the ASP did what bullies naturally do and ran for it.

They got as far as a few feet out of the gate.

Where they were greeted by a redheaded teenager in jeans and a red shirt.

"Going somewhere?" Katherine "Spitfire" Doe said, and brought her hand up to her face as she breathed a long burst of flame at the men, driving them back, keeping them from running.

But they came forward again, this time joined by more. Spitfire blew more fire at them, trying her best to singe them without actually lighting them on fire. As much as they deserved it, Savior had wanted them alive for trial. And by now, he and her and her sister had been through a lot, and she owed him.

But there were just so many, even as Savior furiously fought on within, and the compound, Spitfire's attacks fueling the blaze, continued to burn and fall down.

* * *

The gunshot rang through the room, as Dunagan cocked back the trigger to fire again.

Cyborg's hand closed over his, crushing the gun and all his fingers as Dunagan screamed.

"Shoulda aimed for the flesh." Cyborg growled, a bullet buried two inches into his metal skull, as he jerked his head up and rammed it into Dunagan's face.

Dunagan staggered back, and Cyborg kicked him in the shin, and then slammed the back of his head with a knife-edge chop. Dunagan fell, and spying his gun, he crawled over. A sonic blast blew the gun away when it was but a foot from him, also causing Dunagan to rear up. Cyborg grabbed him by the back of his outfit and threw him over the pews, hitting the wall with a crunch.

Groaning, Dunagan tried to get up as Cyborg walked over. He seized Dunagan by his shoulder and leg, lifting him up, and then he ran, ramming Dunagan through the wooden arm support at the end of the pew as Dunagan screamed in pain. Cyborg rammed him through the middle support and the support at the other end before he dropped him. Dunagan tried to get up and took a full power sonic blast to the chest, throwing him backwards, smashing through the alter at the front and reducing it to kindling before he slammed into the cross and bounced off of it, falling on his face.

Cyborg calmly walked forward.

And flaming embers landed on the roof, and the church began to burn.

* * *

Katherine didn't know what to do. The battle inside was growing more frenzied, and more and more people were trying to run. And now they were bringing guns. But she had to…

A loud pop sounded just before she felt something whiz by her head. With a shock, she realized it was a bullet, and she instinctively dove for cover.

Yelling in fear, anger, some success, and other things, the men poured out. More shots came Katherine's way as she tried to stop them. She ducked behind cover again, glad she had left her sister behind.

"Go! GO!" The lead man, who we recognize as Earl Cade, yelled as the men charged.

And then a laser bolt exploded near their feet. The men stopped.

"No one uses the Troika." Gizmo said as he floated down, as Jinx and Mammoth appeared behind him. "Especially not a bunch of racist fucks!"

And Katherine stared as the Troika tore into the escapees, Gizmo blasting and shocking them, Jinx hexing and kicking them, and Mammoth just pretty much crushing them underfoot.

"But we paid you!" one of them wailed.

Gizmo blasted him, and as his comrades mopped up the few remaining retreatees, he reached into his outfit and pulled out a wad of bills.

"Payment returned." Gizmo said, throwing the bills. The wind caught them and carried them into the flame.

"But…we're on the same side!"

Gizmo kicked the ASP man in the face, knocking him out.

"Not yours."

Inside, unaware Gizmo was redeeming himself for his part in this, Savior was thrashing everything that was moving and wore green. He smashed and whipped, drawing blood and breaking bones, trying to pay all these men back for their crimes.

"I know you all think…" Savior said as he leapt and did a spinning twirl move that smashed through four more ASP members. "That this place would be the next glorious shrine to your fucking cracker convention, but let me tell you this: as long as I live and draw breath, your breed are not welcome in or anywhere near Jump City!"

He threw some more members of the ASP into the walls, which were smoking and on the verge of burning. All the buildings by now were going up in flames, the heat sweeping around Savior, flames dancing around him.

And he saw him.

The giant, unnamed member. The Whipper. Holding the whip he had used on Travis Green and Latrisha Dryce. The two stared each other down.

The man, with a roar, cocked back his arm, his speed incredible, his aim great as he lashed the whip at Savior.

The Shimmer intercepted it in mid-air, slicing it right down the middle, the blade cutting the whip clean in half and slicing off the Whipper's fingers. He screamed, blood gouting from his hand.

"This is my city. My people. It is off limits to all of you goose-stepping motherfuckers. If I had my way, every hatemongering piece of shit on this planet who thinks he's God's chosen just because of his color would be strongly encouraged to get the fuck off of it."

And the Shimmer lashed out, a myriad of whips, lashing and tearing the skin from the Whipper, cutting him straight to the bone, blood spraying as he screamed from the assault.

The whips finally stopped, and the man crumbled to the ground. Moaning, he tried to drag himself away from Savior, who approached, her eyes alight with rage.

"You think yourself a man? You're not even an animal. At least an animal, when backed into a corner, would fight back with instinctual added ferocity. But no. Your kind doesn't do that. Instead you reveal the cowardice that is the true core of your being. Yet you still call yourself a man…"

And the Shimmer flew down, wrapping around the Whipper and throwing him up and behind Savior. Savior stepped forward as the man fell past his back, thrusting his arm behind him, the Shimmer lancing out and slamming into the man, sending him into a bone-breaking tumble across the compound before he came to a stop, royally messed up but still alive.

"Any man who judges another by the color of his skin isn't worthy to be called one." Savior finished.

A loud crunching noise caught his attention. But it wasn't another attacker. Savior had thrashed every single ASP member who had dared fight him, and had dared to consider him one of them.

Had dared to think he had invited them here.

Rather, it was one of the burning buildings collapsing in on itself. All the buildings were doing that now, except the armory, where the fire was having trouble getting started due to all the dirt on it. Savior looked around, and he saw that the church was now awash in flames, ready to cave in as well.

"Victor." He said, and digging the Shimmer strands into the ground, he threw himself into the air.

* * *

Victor approached Dunagan, the leader of the ASP, the one who had conceived of and ordered the plan that had led to the death of his girlfriend, not to mention the innocent Travis Green. A man who wanted to bath the whole planet in blood to save it.

"Murderer." He hissed, as his arm converted into his autocannon. And this time, he had live ammo.

Dunagan offered no resistance as Cyborg reached down and grabbed him, hoisting him up and aiming his cannon at his head.

And then with a loud crashing noise, part of the roof caved in. Cyborg jerked in surprise, and then Savior fell into the room, the Shimmer keeping the flaming wood away from him. Though why he couldn't have just come in the front door…

Savior landed, rolled, flipped, and landed ten feet from Cyborg. The two locked eyes.

Savior looked at Dunagan, dangling from Cyborg's grip, Cyborg's gun pressed against his head. He looked back at Cyborg, crossing his arms.

A pause.

"I was never here." Savior said.

Cyborg didn't reply. But he knew what Noel meant. He would let Cyborg do what he chose, and not breath a word. He would keep any secret Cyborg wanted to his grave.

Cyborg turned back to Dunagan, the rage burning through him.

Savior stared with emotionless eyes.

And then with a snarl, Cyborg threw Dunagan back down.

"I don't want to dirty my bullets." He said.

His arm converted back to normal, as Cyborg looked at the man who had murdered Latrisha. A man he had dearly wanted to pay back in kind. An eye for an eye.

But in the end, he would not. He would not become his enemy.

"As you wish." Savior said, as he nodded, ever so slightly. Showing that even after all Victor had been through; he had stuck to the higher road. Such strength greatly impressed Noel. "I'll finish up here. Go get Latrisha."

Cyborg nodded, and then he turned his back on Dunagan and walked out, ignoring the fiery roof, the burning walls, the flaming pews around him. He did not look back.

Savior walked over as Dunagan, who was finally coming too, glared at Noel with baleful eyes.

"Traitor." He hissed.

"It's over Dunagan. You fucked up. You overextended yourself and overgambled. You won't be able to worm your way out of this one. You'll be spending the rest of your life in jail."

"You think its OVER?" Dunagan hissed. "You think you've accomplished anything? You think you can stop us? So you ran us out of here. So you arrest us. So what? We're EVERYWHERE! We're in your churches and your schools! We're in your armies and your police forces! We're the skinheads in Portland! We're the KKK in Corpus Christi! Stopping me won't change anything! The new order is coming! All inferior races will be expunged! Along with you and your robo-nigger and all your traitorous friends, DEMON!"

"Wrong." Noel said. "This whole tragic mess shows it."

A piece of flaming wood fell near Savior. He didn't seem to notice.

"I gave this some thought Dunagan. Why did you come here? Because you thought I was an ally? That I would aid you in setting up a stronghold to prepare for the upcoming race war? No. You had no way of being sure that that picture truly mirrored how I felt. There was too much risk. But you came here anyway. Why? Because you're desperate. You may not even know it, but you're desperate. You're starting to realize it isn't the 1930's any more. You're starting to realize that grabbing black people off the street and hanging them from the nearest tree will give you a life sentence instead of the applause of your fellows. You're starting to realize that more and more of the so-called lesser races are working their asses off to get places and getting there. You're starting to realize that more and more people are waking up and not looking upon others as inferior just because of their skin. We still have a long journey, but your kind, your breed, it is passing. It's going into the garbage can of history, where it belongs. I do not know who will inherit the Earth, but I know it will not be you."

Noel turned, ready to leave. He'd clear the way so Dunagan could get out. Dunagan couldn't run anywhere, and Noel didn't want to touch him. He was worried he'd catch something.

"And I think that somewhere in that twisted pit you call a soul, you realize it too."

The gunshot rang through the church again.

Savior stopped. Blinked. As Dunagan, smiling through bloody, broken teeth, rose up, holding the second gun he had hidden on his person. Behind him, the cross had finally caught fire, illuminating him with a demonic light.

"We are not going into the garbage can. We are going to the kingdom of God. Over your carcass." Dunagan said, as blood spilled from his mouth, looking at the hole in Noel's jacket, waiting for him to fall.

He didn't.

"And with one move, you expose the true…rotten heart…of it all…" Noel said.

And then a Shimmer strand poked out through the hole, carrying the bent bullet. Dunagan gaped as the white line dumped the bullet on the floor, having caught the projectile as soon as it had entered Noel's body, giving him only a minor flesh wound. He'd shot too close to the spine. That was the base of the Shimmer, and above any other part of Noel's body, it protected that part of its host ferociously, to the point of a near sixth sense level.

Noel turned back to face Dunagan, his face grave.

"This isn't about skin color. This isn't about demons or traitors or new world orders or the will of God. This is about justifying your existence. And in the end, you can't. So you destroy others instead, projecting your own flaws onto others and scapegoating them to satisfy your inferiority complex. All your ranting and preaching and prophesying isn't worth the paper it's printed on. In the end, you hate others because you can't stand your worthless self. You really want to fix your problem? Aim that gun at your head."

"DIE DEMON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Dunagan bellowed.

He fired.

The Shimmer whipped up in front of Savior, blocking his shot.

And Dunagan staggered backward from the recoil, his injured body unable to keep its balance.

His back struck the burning cross.

And his clothes, soaked with gasoline when Cyborg had thrown him into the canisters, and having somehow avoided any other spark or flame until now, ignited.

Noel watched as Dunagan screamed, the flames flowing over him, covering him, consuming him. And he turned away as Dunagan danced and thrashed and wailed.

"OH GOD! HELP ME! HELP MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!" he howled.

Noel looked back over his shoulder.

"Why?" he asked.

And he turned away.

A thunderous crack suddenly sounded above Dunagan, and despite his agony he looked up as the thick slabs of wood making up the church's roof finally caved in, a giant beam pointing down and them plummeting straight at him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The beam crashed down on him, and then a hail of others, burying Dunagan under the flaming wood, a one-way ticket straight to hell.

And Savior threw back his head and roared.

**_"CAN I GET A HALLELUIAH, MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"_**

And he leapt out the church door, as the building collapsed around him.

The devil had claimed his own.

* * *

The fire was mostly out by the time Robin and the others arrived, still in suits from their supposed tickets to the _Producers_. Police cars and ambulances and fire trucks were everywhere.

"My god…" Robin said, as he was what was left of the ASP camp.

"Guys."

Robin turned to look at Savior, who had come up from their side.

"Savior! What happened here?"

"The bad thing you hoped wouldn't." Savior replied. "Not that I can blame you…it was pretty well planned…"

"Hey Savior, what are you doing here? I thought you were on a road trip." Gauntlet said.

"I was. We had turned around from the direction we were going and heading the other way. We were just passing Jump City when I got the call. Thank god I did, I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't got here…especially after you told me what had happened Robin."

"What?" Robin said. Savior turned back to him.

"You called me Robin. Told me about the hate group and how they had me on the propaganda. How they thought I invited them here via that picture. What I don't know is why it took you so long for you to get here."

"Savior, I never called you."

"What?"

"Savior, the reason it took us so long to get here is that our communicators went down and we only found out after we switched to the police band."

"But Robin, it was your voice. You called me."

"Savior, honestly, I didn't!"

And he hadn't. It had been Gizmo, using a hacked phone number and a voice alteration device. By now, the Troika had faded into the woods, heading back home, just wanting to forget this whole ugly incident.

"Still, it was nice to be the good guy for once." Mammoth had said.

"Yeah, but I'd rather not make a habit of it." Gizmo has replied, though even he had to admit, he felt like he had done the right thing. It was a nice feeling. It'd fade quickly, but for now it was nice.

"ASP was planning something big. The cops are still pulling out evidence…but…dammit…" Savior said, shaking his head.

And then a car moved, and the Titans finally saw Cyborg, hunched over a covered gurney, weeping quietly.

"Oh no…oh no…please no…" Starfire said.

"They caught Latrisha. They murdered her. But don't worry. They'll all pay for it…all of them…" Savior said, trying to keep his own eyes from tearing up and only partially succeeding.

"…We failed…oh god we failed again…" Robin said, burying his face in his hands.

"No…no Robin. We didn't fail. We tried to do the right thing within society's law, which these fucks perverted and twisted for their own use. You, I, we all had the best of intentions…" Noel trailed off. He didn't finish his sentence.

But don't forget what the road to hell is paved with.

* * *

"And so, we release our child to God, and his grace, and his plan, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The priest finished.

The black-clad crowd was silence except for the low sound of weeping, and an occasionally loud nose blowing, which was mostly Starfire. All the Titans were there, dressed again in their finest, and the many people who had come for Latrisha's funeral.

Cyborg stood at the front, and after her father, he tossed dirt on the coffin as it was lowered down. He glanced briefly at the couple, and Latrisha's crying younger sister and red-eyed older brother.

At least they didn't blame him, Cyborg thought. That would have made the pain unbearable. They blamed the ASP, who had done this, and done it with joy.

And who were now cannibalizing themselves from within. With Dunagan dead, the group had all turned on each other, each trying to avoid some punishment. But the case was too strong. After years of carefully covering everything up, the ASP's brazen actions in Jump City had given the police a cornucopia of evidence. As well as the murder weapons (though the police were annoyed about the destruction of the whip), the police had also found tons of hate literature, carefully hidden by the floating box during the first search, and all sorts of illegal weapons, including some extremely high tech ones. What had not been told to the press was that each one had seemingly been designed and programmed to take out a certain Titan. And there had been one for everyone except Savior. For obvious reasons. Now that they were pinned down, many victims of the ASP's previous actions were finally coming forward. The legal proceedings would drag on for years, but in the end it looked like everyone involved was going to get some serious jail time.

But in the end, that barely mattered. It wouldn't bring back all their victims, or undo the scars of the ones that still lived. In the end, Latrisha was still dead.

The service was ended. The Titans all consoled Cyborg. The only one missing was Noel, who hadn't shown up. Or so it seemed. Slowly, the crowd drifted away, leaving Cyborg to watch as they covered her coffin with earth.

Noel was, as mentioned, not in the crowd, but Cyborg had seen him, He had a feeling he would be there.

And eventually he was, walking up to Cyborg's side.

"Victor." He said. Cyborg just nodded.

For a moment, the two just looked at the headstone. It was a lovely day. Too lovely for something like this.

"I would extend you my sympathies, but you've probably had enough of that. But they are there. Rather…Vic…I do not want to do this, but this whole tragedy reminds of human failing…and thinking that…I need to ask you some questions."

Cyborg didn't reply.

"If you don't want me to, I understand. I just feel it may…"

"You can ask them." Cyborg said.

Noel swallowed and sighed. He braced himself: he wouldn't be surprised if any of these made Victor attack him.

"Cyborg, she's at peace now. But she died horribly, at the hands of horrible men. Can you live with that?"

Cyborg did not reply for a while. His eyes grew hard, and his jaw clenched, and his lone eye burned at the injustices of the world.

But in the end, he nodded.

"I knew you could. You're strong. But…I…"

"Ask."

"Cyborg, she died at the hands of white men who thought they had every right to do what they did. The greatest curse of such men is that they can infect you, taint you with their hatred. Victor…can you live your life without hating us in return?"

This answer was quicker.

"No. Never." Cyborg said. "It would be dishonoring her memory."

"Good…now the last one…" Noel said, and sighed again. Then he turned away.

"Cyborg, in a way, I am responsible for this."

Cyborg looked at Noel's back.

"It was my picture that provided some inspiration. In a way, I'm why they came here. I'm why Latrisha was murdered…can you live with that possibility? If not, I'll leave the Titans. You have seniority and I shouldn't stay if there was a rift between us that could endanger…"

"Noel…" Victor said, putting a hand on Noel's shoulder. Noel turned around. "I could no more blame you for this then I could hate you for having white skin."

Silence again, and then Noel closed his eyes.

"You have more humanity in your little finger then any of those people could have in a hundred lifetimes Victor."

"I know…that's why it hurts so much." Victor replied quietly.

The two stood in front of the grave for another few seconds, and then they turned and left, surrounded by the sounds of birdsong.

The sun shone brightly on the headstone.

LATRISHA DRYCE

1987-2004

REMEMBERED FOR WHO SHE WAS FOREVER

The End

_Who knows what the destiny of the human race is? Will this so-called race war come to pass, in an attempt by people to wipe out "inferior" others? Will humanity finally learn to get along? Or will we be forced to separate ourselves into groups, unable to trust the "others", letting our animal isolation and survival instinct rule our rational brains?_

_Who knows? The future is forever in shadow._

_But for all that groups like the ASP and their breed say and do, supposedly in the name of righteousness…I will say two things._

_The genetic difference between a white man, a black man, a Chinese woman, a Hindu child, an Eskimo fisherman, and you and I…is approximately nothing at all. There is no such thing as racial purity. In our design, our surfaces may be different but the core structure is all the same._

_And second…_

_There are two types of people in this world._

_The Righteous Who Think They Are Sinners._

_And the Sinners Who Think They Are Righteous._

_So…in the end…which one are you?_


End file.
